In December, Michele Witecha (WI DNR) and Todd Breininger (PA DCNR) will reflect on today’s prescribed fire landscape in the Lake States, examine pinch points, and discuss where we go next.
Michele began her prescribed fire journey as a volunteer burn crew member with The Nature Conservancy in 2002. Her career background is primarily in wildlife/endangered species management and fire ecology in Florida, Texas, and Kansas. She worked with both public and private prescribed burn programs in the southeast and the Midwest before joining the Wisconsin DNR fire program in 2013. As the specialist for the DNR prescribed fire program for the last 7 years Michele has had the privilege of working with field staff and outside partners to continually improve and increase prescribed fire on both public and private lands.
Todd is the Prescribed Fire Program Specialist for the Pennsylvania Department of Conservation and Natural Resources, Bureau of Forestry. His duties include overseeing the prescribed fire program for the Bureau, reviewing all the burn plans for Pennsylvania, serving as an Agency Representative to the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency, and assisting in the wildland fire program. Prior to his current position, he worked as a Fire Operations Forester for the Division of Forest Fire Protection and as a Service Forester in the William Penn Forest District. He has been active on the Steering Committee for the Pennsylvania Prescribed Fire Council since its inception and has been on the Board of Directors since 2016. He has served as the Vice-Chair, Acting Chair, and is currently the Secretary of the Board. He also serves on the Governing Board for the Coalition of Prescribed Fire Councils. Todd has been involved with wildland fire since the early 90’s and is currently qualified as a Task Force Leader and a Burn Boss. Every summer he takes a few fire details out in the western states. He received his B.S. in Forest Resources Management from West Virginia University.
Logan is a fourth-year Forest Management and Fire Science student at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point. He was the president and cache manager of UWSP’s Fire Crew, where he is certified as an in-house burn boss. Through the UWSP Fire Crew, he has burned various ecosystems in Florida, Illinois, and Wisconsin and he provides students with hands-on prescribed burn experience and wildland firefighting training. Logan has worked two seasons as a wildland firefighter for the US Forest Service, where he gained experience that he can pass on to other students.
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